5 things that can help Virat Kohli turn around Team India's fortunes overseas

#5 Better support staff

Once, you are in a position of power, there is a tendency to get like-minded people around you. People who would adapt to your ideas and plans, rather than someone who would have a difference of opinion. Unfortunately, if leaders are only surrounded by yes men, they end up getting disconnected from reality, their own teammates and also with what is good for their team.

The reality is India has lost two major series even before the last test and mostly by huge margins. These are losses that are being added to Kohli’s record. If wins against West Indies and Sri Lanka are something that Kohli wants to be remembered for, he’s aiming far lower. Rahul Dravid’s 2007 team in England will be remembered for generations, even if it won the same number of tests that Kohli won on this tour. And the current attack, is the best one ever, shouldn’t Kohli aim higher?

For that, India needs a change in support staff. To understand why let’s look at IPL as a case study, a high pressure, long tournament, which requires a team to consistently do well for a long period, and at their best at crucial moments.

Let’s look at the finalists from this year’s edition. CSK and SRH. If you look at the players from these two teams and compare them with players from other teams, man to man, you can easily say, they fall short of an MI or RCB in terms skills and talent on paper. In fact, most of the CSK players were considered to be over the hill. So, what caused this turnaround?

The answer is simple, good support staff. Even, a talisman skipper like MS Dhoni prefers sensible men such as Stephen Fleming and Michael Hussey to support him. Same with SRH, Tom Moody, VVS Laxman and M.Muralitharan support their captains. These guys have helped the leaders to build sensible teams, got the right players, challenged them to improve, backed them, inspired them, set in good work ethics.

Are there no disagreements? I am sure there are. But, they still need to show a mirror to the leader, not necessarily in a confronting way, but in a way, the skipper acknowledges. In the end, the teams look so happy from outside and turn up every day, looking to get better, stronger. India needs such men in their support staff too. If we can have well-seasoned legends turn up for IPL as coaches and mentors, why not for the cash-rich BCCI powered Team India?

One may say, it’s not correct to compare IPL success with Test cricket, but, the point is, a captain cannot think of building a team on his own. BCCI needs to get someone such as Dhoni or Ganguly to talk to Kohli, make him understand, there are situations when he would need to have a different opinion.

To be surrounded by people, including coach and players who always agree, praise, defend will neither help him nor Team India. RCB has identified this need and got in Gary Kirsten as coach. Hopefully, BCCI will do the same.

There is a case, where, one may think, changing the support staff eight months before World Cup may not be the right thing, but, if it is to arrest the slide, it’s not bad. And the team itself doesn’t need any major changes. Except for a few, this is a good team. We must believe in this team. We must believe in Kohli. He just needs help.